BAPTISTA 

A Kaskaskia chief who had a chance meeting with 
George Rogers Clark in the land of the Illinois 
during the Revolutionary War in 1778. He told 
Clark of the numerous people who once lived in 
the area and built the mounds in the American 
Bottoms. The huge earthworks he found at Cahokia 
intrigued Clark. The Illinois paid a heavy price 
for their alliance with the Americans; they 
suffered devastating attacks by pro-British tribes. 
Their American allies failed to come to their 
support and the Illinois population was devastated. 
It is quite probable that Baptiste is an ancestor of 
Baptista Peoria who signed the Treaty of Edwardsville 
on September 25, 1818, ceding the last of the 
tribal lands in Illinois.